Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Last weekend Brad of Paradise Yachts spent about 6 hours up our mizzen mast mounting all the gear you see in the photo. We now have a full complement of gizmos and are slowly working to get them all hooked up.

Lowrance 4G Broadband Radar

Rutland 913 wind generator on KISS isolation mount

TV antenna

Loud hailer speaker for the new GX2150 VHF radio

Tri-Lens radar reflector

Settee bin access

We also got Julio down to work on our under settee storage situation - now we can actually get into those bins and start getting our storage organized. To compare, you can see the new bin access with the original tiny tops. Next up is to find that can of paint to make it look prettier...

Random interruptions

We have been busy running the three new (+1 spare) hydraulic lines for the steering but we are still scratching our heads over how to get the two 2/0 windlass battery cables into the engine room - thirty years of patchwork wiring has left a real rats nest of wires and cables in the area we are working in. Layout and configuration work continues for integrating the future new batteries with the wind generator, 360 watts of solar panels, a C-60 charge controller, and water heater diversion load. Sound like enough going on? I would love to also get the VM NF-200 water maker out of the back seat of my car and actually mounted on the boat!

On a side note, I gave up Verizon and my Droid Bionic. I have gone contract free with the GSM Galaxy Nexus and the StraightTalk $45/month unlimited everything SIM-only plan and the combination is fantastic. My first 2 battery conditioning cycles went 31 and 35 hours, a far cry from the 5-7 hours the Bionic got and my HSPA+ data speeds are nearly as fast as those I had on the Verizon 4G network.

The adventures of Horizon

We are Mike and Cate and this is the saga of our 1980 Morgan OI 415 ketch Horizon. Mike sold his last boat Horizon after 24 years of ownership and cruising her from California to Florida. When Cate entered the picture we wanted to start fresh with a boat we could both have a hand in making our home.

Our plans are to make Horizon ready for extended Caribbean cruising. Through this blog we describe some of the changes we are making and our experiences getting her, ourselves, and our feline children Rose and Ollie McHop ready for a life of cruising.